The Legend of the Blair Witch: Myths that Created an Infamous Curse

When most people hear about the Blair witch, images come to mind of a horror film which was released in 1999 with a very low production budget. The movie was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez and it was so successful that it spread across the world. However, Sánchez and Myrick based their production on a legend about a woman who many people claim was real: Elly Kedward. What did Elly do for her to be called a witch? What terrible events are said to have occurred in the last 300 years in certain forests of Maryland, USA? What is the origin of the curse connected to an infamous witch?

The Rise of the Blair Witch

It seems that the origins of the legend begin in Maryland in the forests of the Black Hills – a place in which, according to local traditions, Native American tribes dared not enter. Local folklore says that around 1630 Colonel Nathaniel Blair led an expedition to cross the forest in order to find a suitable place to build a fort. Nathaniel is said to have sought help from a tribe in the area – but in response they sabotaged his expedition. In spite of this, Blair and his men built the fort which they baptized with the colonel’s surname. Over the years, the site would grow to become the city of Blair in 1634.